Hannibal‘s Kaiseki Leaves Us Hungry for More

Season two of Hannibal hit the ground running. Quite literally too, as the opening scene was a flash-forward of an intense fight between Hannibal and Jack Crawford. So far, we know that Hannibal is going to get figured out, and the rest of the season is going to be dedicated to seeing how that comes together. Season two started where season one had left off, Will Graham was framed for all of the horrible things that Hannibal had done and is now imprisoned. Even worse, his new psychiatrist is Dr. Chilton, who is still full of himself even after having all of his organs removed. At this time, only the audience, Will, and maybe Hannibal’s psychiatrist Bedelia Du Maurier know that Hannibal is last season’s big baddie “The Chesapeake Ripper”. It’s unclear, as of right now, what Bedelia knows, but she has made some implications that she knows too much about Hannibal.

This season is going to stray away from the first season’s formula of featuring a killer of the week. Instead, they are going to have a “big baddie” which has already been revealed to be Mason Verger, notably played by Gary Oldman in the film adaptation of Hannibal. It isn’t known exactly when Verger is going to show up, but last night introduced an unknown killer kidnapping random people based on the color of their skin. Also the feel of their skin, that was oh so creepily pointed out to the audience when the killer complimented a man’s smooth skin on the subway. Later, this man was abducted and found himself in a room of “dead” people. It’s unclear whether or not they are dead or in heroin-induced comas even though the coma thing has been done before. The last shot of the night revealed that the bodies are arranged in a way to make it look like an eye.

We also see that Hannibal has filled Will’s role of consulting FBI Agent. Which is an odd choice considering how Hannibal doesn’t have any kind of FBI background, but I’ll allow it. This might be in Hannibal’s best interest, in case the FBI gets too close to figuring out that Hannibal is the Chesapeake Ripper. He could easily tamper with evidence in order to protect his skin. This is especially timely since Bedelia is implying that she might reveal Hannibal. Will is starting to remember events that happened when he had lost his memory due to Encephalitis. Thankfully, he remembered exactly how Hannibal managed to get Abigail Hobbs’ ear into Will’s throat. Something that had been bothering fans during the hiatus. It’s only a matter of time before Will remembers something that will put Hannibal behind bars.

I, along with other Fannibals and critics, are glad to see that Hannibal has come back for seconds. Last night’s episode was just like one of Hannibal’s dishes: well crafted, beautiful, and disturbing. If this is just the appetizer for this season, I’m definitely intrigued to see what the meat of this season is going to be. Given the subject matter, a show like Hannibal should be a guilty pleasure. The audience clearly does not feel guilty about what they’ve just digested from this episode. Each promo gives us a bite of what is to come: Bedelia revealing to Will that she believes him and Will figuring out that Hannibal is a cannibal. Now we have to wait a grueling twelve weeks to see how Jack and Hannibal’s fight began. I will definitely be sticking around to see how this season takes course.